Two-factor authentication has emerged as an important safety measure for organizations to reinforce the safety of their customers. Duo and Microsoft Authenticator are two widespread apps that present this degree of safety.
Duo makes use of push notifications, time-based, one-time passwords, bodily tokens, and biometrics to confirm the identification of customers at login. Equally, Microsoft Authenticator makes use of push notifications and one-time passcodes that may combine with Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Entra ID (previously Azure Energetic Listing.)
Whereas each 2FA choices share some similarities, key variations can sway your determination to decide on one over the opposite.
- Duo: Finest for additional safety capabilities like adaptive authentication, granular entry insurance policies, and risk detection.
- Microsoft Authenticator: Finest for Microsoft-centric environments that need seamless integration with Microsoft Entra ID and different Home windows providers.
Duo vs Microsoft Authenticator: Comparability desk
| Options | ||
|---|---|---|
| Push notifications | ||
| Biometrics authentication | ||
| One-time passcodes | ||
| Integrations with different services and products | ||
| Backup and restoration | ||
| Pricing | ||
|
|
Duo vs Microsoft Authenticator pricing
Beneath is how Duo and Microsoft Authenticator sq. up in opposition to one another when it comes to pricing.
Duo pricing
Duo follows a tiered system based mostly on options and providers you prefer to added to the appliance. In the mean time, it affords 4 subscription tiers:
| Plan | Duo Free | Duo Important | Duo Benefit | Duo Premier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worth | Free | $3 per consumer, per 30 days | $6 per consumer, per 30 days | $9 per consumer, per 30 days |
| Options variations | Permits 1-10 customers; MFA, integrations, and free authenticator app | All Free plan options plus, Single Signal-On, passwordless authentication, and consumer group insurance policies | All Important plan options plus Duo Passport, risk-based authentication, Cisco Id Intelligence, and risk detection | All Benefit options plus VPN-less distant entry to non-public assets, endpoint safety verify, and nil belief entry |
Microsoft Authenticator pricing
Microsoft Authenticator is free and comes bundled with all Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Energetic Listing) and 365 Enterprise accounts.
For a full checklist of costs and options, you’ll be able to go to our articles on Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Energetic Listing).
Characteristic comparability: Duo vs Microsoft Authenticator
Each Duo and Microsoft Authenticator current glorious options to customers, however here’s a head-to-head characteristic comparability:
Utility Programming Interface integration
Most enterprise organizations contemplating Duo or Microsoft Authenticator will wish to combine these apps with present or customized software program and server purposes.
Duo helps limitless utility integrations via its platform in all obtainable editions.
However, whereas Microsoft Authenticator additionally integrates with different third-party services and products, it’s far simpler to combine with Microsoft-supported providers as a result of it’s already bundled with a few of them.
Safety features
Each Duo and Microsoft Authenticator prioritize safety and supply sturdy options to guard consumer accounts. Duo helps adaptive authentication, which assesses the danger of every login try and prompts for added verification when essential. It additionally supplies granular entry insurance policies, permitting directors to outline particular authentication necessities based mostly on consumer roles and circumstances.
Microsoft Authenticator leverages the facility of Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Energetic Listing) to ship superior security measures, equivalent to conditional entry insurance policies, risk-based authentication, and seamless single sign-on experiences throughout purposes. It additionally helps hardware-backed safety keys for enhanced safety in opposition to phishing assaults.
Authentication strategies
Each Duo and Microsoft Authenticator present a number of authentication strategies. Duo affords a wide range of authentication choices, together with push notifications, WebAuthn and biometrics, tokens, passcodes, and {hardware} safety keys.
In the meantime, Microsoft Authenticator helps push notifications, OTPs, and biometric authentication (fingerprint, facial recognition) on supported units.
Backup and restoration
Duo’s Restore characteristic lets customers backup Duo-protected accounts and third-party OTP accounts for restoration to the identical or new gadget. This lets you again up your Duo accounts on cloud providers like iCloud and Google Drive.
Equally, Microsoft Authenticator affords backup and restoration choices that enable customers to securely retailer their accounts and settings within the cloud. This characteristic allows simple account restoration on new units or in case of gadget loss.
Buyer assist
In relation to buyer assist, each suppliers supply an honest quantity of choices.
For Duo, they’ve a devoted assist web page with a web-based data base categorized for Duo customers and directors — making it simple to get help for each varieties of customers.
In addition they have a weblog, documentation portal, and chatbot characteristic. Apart from that, you’ll be able to file a assist case, contact a stay agent through telephone, or e-mail the Duo assist workforce.
Conversely, assist for Microsoft Authenticator falls beneath the umbrella assist providers you get with Microsoft as a complete. You may contact Microsoft’s assist brokers via their official assist web page, make a telephone name to one in every of their regional assist numbers, or go to their Microsoft Neighborhood discussion board for stay discussions.
In addition they have an intensive FAQs web page for Microsoft Authenticator itself, offering documentation from setup to troubleshooting frequent points.
Duo professionals and cons
Whereas Duo presents many advantages to customers, it additionally has some drawbacks. Here’s a abstract of the professionals and cons.
Professionals
- Single sign-on.
- Passwordless.
- A number of authentication strategies.
- Push Phishing Safety.
- Menace Detection.
- Backup and restoration.
Cons
- Duo Free accounts are restricted to 10 customers.
- Barely cluttered UI in sure locations as a result of huge number of authentication choices.
- Safety notifications generally take longer than anticipated.
Microsoft Authenticator professionals and cons
Microsoft authenticator affords highly effective two-factor authentication options, however there could also be just a few drawbacks some customers say they’ve skilled whereas utilizing the product. Beneath are some professionals and cons.
Professionals
- Passwordless sign-in.
- Push notifications via the cell app.
- The authenticator app can be utilized as a software program token.
- Backup and restoration assist.
Cons
- Multi-factor report possibility is barely supported within the increased plans.
- Pricing mannequin could also be sophisticated for some customers to navigate.
- Might not be excellent for corporations that shouldn’t have Microsoft ecosystems.
Ought to your group use Duo or Microsoft Authenticator?
Selecting one 2FA software program over one other might be difficult, particularly when many placing similarities bind the merchandise collectively. For Duo and Microsoft Authenticator, the principle level of reference when deciding between the 2 ought to revolve round your total know-how stack, ease of use, and pricing.
For those who closely depend on Microsoft merchandise equivalent to Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Energetic Listing), Microsoft 365, and different Microsoft providers, Microsoft Authenticator might present a extra seamless and built-in expertise.
However, in case you have a various set of platforms and purposes, Duo’s broad compatibility and in depth integration capabilities make it a extra versatile selection. Duo integrates simply with providers like Slack, Atlassian, Salesforce, Dropbox, and extra.
You must also contemplate the pricing fashions and the way they meet your small business necessities and budgets. Duo’s pricing construction varies relying on the options and assist degree chosen, whereas Microsoft Authenticator is usually bundled with Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft 365 subscriptions.
Duo’s pricing is extra complete and clear, not like Microsoft’s, which is extra sophisticated as a consequence of its bundling with Microsoft subscriptions. Take time to judge your group’s particular wants and contemplate the related prices when evaluating the pricing of those options.
Lastly, look into every service’s consumer expertise and ease of use. Each Duo and Microsoft Authenticator present seamless consumer experiences, however preferences might fluctuate relying in your group’s tech stack, consumer base, and the way acquainted they’re with every platform.
Use the free variations every resolution affords to get hands-on expertise with every product. When testing, assess issues such because the simplicity of setup, the intuitiveness of the authentication course of, and any extra options that improve usability.
Take into account conducting a pilot take a look at with each options to judge their efficiency and compatibility inside your small business surroundings. This lets you collect firsthand expertise and suggestions out of your customers and directors earlier than making a closing determination.
For a extra complete analysis of two-factor authentication based mostly on safety impression and strategic enterprise initiative, take a look at this two-factor authentication analysis information.
SEE: Securing Linux Coverage (TechRepublic Premium)
Methodology
To attract a good comparability between Duo and Microsoft Authenticator, we began by going via the documentation pages of every product, the place we discovered about their key options and the way they combine with different applied sciences. We additionally checked out consumer evaluations from trusted third-party assessment websites to get some opinions from verified customers. The author additionally makes use of Microsoft Authenticator, making it simpler to debate the product based mostly on my expertise. All these supplied sufficient perception to assist form our assessment.
This text was initially written by Franklin Okeke in August 2023 and was up to date by Luis Millares in January 2025 to account for characteristic and product modifications, like Azure Energetic Listing’s identify change to Microsoft Entra ID.
